Day 24: Left Missoula around noon Mountain Time. Stopped in state capitol of Helena. Arrived in Big Timber, MT about 5:30 PM. Distance travelled, approx. 270 Miles.
Morning in Missoula, walking along the Clark Fork River we saw some locals breaking out the wetsuits and surfboards to hit the killer swells. Nothing like a little landlocked ingenuity to realize a wavepool is just some snow-melt and flash flooding away. Davis and Shiplet wished they could partake.
Breakfast in Missoula was brought to the dudes via hearty recommendation: "The Shack is great, and great prices too." What we came to realize was that "great" and "great prices" meant "gourmet" and "$18 egg-based meals." Davis' omelet had more garnish than he know how to handle.
Driving along Rt. 12 in the heart of Montana, the dudes learn the meaning of Big Sky Country, basking in the distant embrace of snow-capped mountains on three horizons and roads that stretch so far into the distance they vanish with the curve of the Earth.
In Big Timber, Davis' former youth minister, Jeremy, takes us to their very own Natural Bridge which, due to frequent rainfall and melting snow, it had turned into a triple spout waterfall with ice-cold mist swirling so intensely it actually knocked the dudes off their feet. Definitely calls for a return visit. Davis and Shiplet were also treated to a delicious meal of locally raised free-range steak and grilled vegetables, a contented reminder of how food should taste.
Day 25: Left Big Timber around 9 AM Mountain Time. Stopped in Sheridan, Wyoming. Arrived Badlands National Park around 6:30 Mountain Time. Distance Travelled, approx. 530 Miles.
The dudes woke up in the morning and enjoyed a pancake breakfast with Jeremy, his wife Jamie, and their two amazing kids Jordan (3) and Justin (1). Justin was very very excited to eat his baby sized pieces of pancake fed to him by Davis, who probably enjoyed the meal as much as Justin.
We said our goodbye, hit the road and continued the journey by passing through Wyoming, where we enjoyed a heavy pub meal in Sheridan (Jeremy's hometown), before heading onward into South Dakota in search of their campsite for the night, Badlands National Park. The topographic change between Montana and South Dakota seemed like a cruel joke as we'd become so used to dramatic countryside and were slowly lulled into the flat, expansive, emptiness that is South Dakota. Davis observes that listening to Folk music loses its charm when there's no folk around to hear it...
Badlands eventually appears in the distance and with a flair of diversity it opens up into a jagged, desertlike landscape, clearly deserving of the title of Bandlands, and promising to provide a great place to camp for the night. The dudes decide that sleeping under the stars in such an open countryside could be the one redeeming quality that doesn't make this the least interesting stretch of the journey...
And then this happens:
For the next 13 hours Davis and Shiplet endure lightning, thunder, torrential rain, and 50 mph windgusts, waking (if choosing to open our eyes is the only difference between sleep and awake) the next morning to find their tent held to the ground by a single stake, surrounded by several inches of standing water, and distraught by the promise of even more rain and wind on the way.
We decide to get the hell out of South Dakota.
Day 26
Left Badlands National Park 8:30 Central Time. Made stops in Kennebec, S.D (pop. 240) and Chamberlain, S.D (pop. 2,387). Arrived 10 PM Central Time in Madison, Wisconsin. Distance Travelled, approx. 710 Miles
The stop in Chamberlain gives an ironic (or iconic) image of South Dakota as we've experienced it, but because of traffic we were unable to snap the photo. However, imagine this - the off ramp of a major interstate turns either left or right. To the left, the small town of Chamberlain. To the right, a decrepit Road Closed sign with a vulture standing on it.
We then ate lunch at a place called Taco John's, kinda like a South Dakota version of Taco Bell where you get tater tots instead of Tortilla Chips, West-Mex they call it. The food was none too good. However in Chamberlain we also got some bomb fireworks which are surely to be put on display sometime soon in VA. We also decided that Davis looks like a Nascar driver in his new trucker hat and ambiguous colored facial hair.
The rest of the drive to Madison was basically just us hauling through the Great Plains trying to get back on the east side of the Mississippi, where Davis had not been since June 2nd. We finally reached the mighty river and passed into Wisconsin, which felt a lot like home after driving through almost 600 miles of prairie.
We decided to avoid the interstate in Wisconsin and drive along some country roads while listening to Bob Dylan and Iron And Wine. It was a great way to finish up the longest drive of the road trip since our misadventure across the state of Texas.
We finally arrived in Madison around 10 PM and got to hang out with one of our favorite people in the world, the one and only...Michael Welsh, esteemed Chemistry PhD student at Madison-Wisconsin and former WLU XC and Track teammate. We got some drinks with Welsh down at the student union building down by the lake, went to a bar, chilled and then crashed in his studio apt.
Peace and Love
Two dudes,
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